Technological advancements in storm shelter design have made them more affordable, and hence more available, to the homeowner. The market for storm shelters has grown significantly; underground storm shelters and safe rooms are much more prevalent in new home construction in recent years. Modern underground storm shelters are also readily adaptable to being installed inside the garage area of an existing house, without interfering with parking a car over the space occupied by the shelter. Typically, the prior attempted solutions provide an open top enclosure constructed of sheet metal, and a lid assembly constructed of plate steel. It has been determined by the inventors of this technology that the sheet metal construction can be improved upon, and that a two piece sliding lid can be improved by making the entire lid surface flush to the surrounding surface when the storm shelter is closed. It is to these improvements that the embodiments of the present invention are directed.